The words ostomy, urostomy, ileostomy and colostomy, and the images they convey produce dread in many people who know very little about them. An ostomy is a surgical procedure that creates an opening on the abdominal wall for waste products to move out of the body. It is performed when a medical condition is so severe that an ostomy offers a better alternative. The quality of life is usually improved for patients with an ostomy, because their previous medical condition was so debilitating.
To really understand an ostomy, it helps to know a little about the body's anatomy. The gastrointestinal tract begins with the esophagus (the tube connecting the mouth and stomach) and continues through the stomach, small intestine, large intestine (colon), rectum, and anus.
Food is swallowed in the esophagus, mixed and churned in the stomach, and digested and absorbed in the small intestine. The waste leaves the small intestine as liquid. The colon absorbs water from the liquid material and stores the remainder as formed stool until it is passed voluntarily out of the body through the rectum. Liquid waste is directed to the kidneys and then to the bladder, where it is held until discharged through the urethra.
A colostomy indicates that the opening is from the colon. When the colostomy is in the left colon, only a pad may be needed to cover the opening. When the opening is in the right side of the colon, some type of appliance or bag is required. There are various types of colostomies. The physician and surgeon recommend the appropriate one for each patient.
An ileostomy involves bringing the ileum (the last portion of the small intestine) to the abdominal surface. When waste matter reaches the ileum it is liquid, so an appliance is needed to collect it.
A urostomy is a stoma (artificial opening) for the urinary system. A urostomy is made in cases where long-term drainage of urine through the bladder and urethra is not possible, e.g. after extensive surgery or in case of obstruction.
Typically after a stoma is created a plastic collection bag is adhesively connected to the body of the opening via a port in the bag for the collection of various bodily fluids. A valve adjacent the base of the bag provides for convenient emptying of the fluids when required.
Obviously there are many occasions in normal patient activity for this opening in the bag to become blocked, closing the stoma with negative consequences including possible infection. For the patient, simply securing a belt around his or her waste presents a problem, and additional activities including driving a car or traveling on a plane add greater potential difficulties.
Many attempts have been put forward to address this and similar ostomy collection bag problems. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,656,838 discloses a colostomy unit comprised of a belt 10 (FIG. 1), a plastic or metal plate 16 (FIG. 3), a shield 26 (FIG. 3), and sponge rubber sealing pad 40 (FIG. 3) and washer 44 (FIG. 3). A colostomy bag 24 (FIG. 1) is attached to this apparatus.
Again, in U.S. Pat. No. 2,549,348 a colostomy pouch and protector is described. A circular ring 28 (FIG. 7) has a diametrically secured bridge 29 (FIG. 7), said bridge having means for slidably securing a belt on the bridge. A colostomy bag 20 (FIG. 1) then connects to the bridge. This arrangement prevents the neck of the bag becoming closed due to the pressure form the wearer's clothing (col. 3, lines 4-7).
In U.S. Pat. No. 1,922,763 a colostomy appliance is disclosed. A metal wire frame 14 (FIG. 2) supports a colostomy bag 10 (FIG. 1) and provides the means for securing an elastic belt 54 (FIG. 5).
A protective shield for a stoma pouch is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,178,614. In this invention a spring clip 90 (FIG. 1) secures a plastic shell 50 (FIG. 2) to a stoma collection pouch 10 (FIG. 1). In operation, as the collection pouch 10 swelled during filing the spring clip portion 90 flexes to allow widening of space 100 between the shell portion 50 and the spring clip portion 90 (FIG. 2). The shell portion 50 acts to prevent physical injury to the stoma and the collection pouch 10 (col. 3, lines 54-59).
A protection device for Pacemaker Patients or Stoma Patients is disclosed in U.S. Patent No. 2005/0256621A1. An arc shaped protector 1 (FIG. 1) consisting of a basic body 2 (FIG. 1) and cover 3 for a belt (FIG. 1) protects pressure sensitive, touch-sensitive, or injured parts of the human body when using a belt that is worn on the body. The basic body 2 has two rubber-like coated bearing surfaces 21 (FIG. 1) to transfer belt stress to the protector.
Additionally, U.S. Patent No. 2009/0182191A1 discloses a stoma protection cap. The Stoma Protective Cap For Protection of the Stoma, encompasses a plate (4) which has a curvature (3) which curvature (3) is formed such that it spans a cavity across the stoma and the plate encompasses at least one retaining region (1) which enables a fastening on clothing so that the plate can be securely held between the clothing and the body.
While the above noted devices and methods provide useful approaches to the problems associated with stoma protection, they do not envision the comfort, simplicity, and economy of the present invention, whether viewed as a virtually universal adjunct to a stoma pouch, or as a complete stoma protection apparatus.
It is therefore a primary object of the invention to provide a combination stoma collection bag and stoma protection device.
An additional object is to provide a pressure minimizing stoma protection device.
A further object is to provide an economically fabricated stoma protection device.
Still another object is to provide stoma protection device that can be employed on a variety of commercially available ostomy collection bags.
Yet another object is to provide a conveniently user applied stoma protection device to an ostomy collection bag.
Another object is to provide a peel-away adhesive backed stoma protection device for fast, convenient user application to an ostomy collection bag as required.